git:20261007.67cfbad to git:20261008.3c43a50

---

name: gatekeep-pr

description: Use when gating a pull request before it merges - whether you authored it or are reviewing someone else's work. Judges whether the diff delivers the mechanism each acceptance criterion needs (code, tests, docs) and conforms to the review rubric; what can be seen only after merge belongs to /skill:check-delivery. Consent-gated - every mutation (fixes, pushes, reviews, merges, tracker comments) waits for an explicit menu pick, except the sync `--rebase` asks for.

disable-model-invocation: true

argument-hint: "<pr> [issue-ref] [--rebase [base]] (e.g. 123, 123 gh-45, 123 --rebase, 123 gh-45 --rebase release/2)"

---

# gatekeep-pr

Verify, don't trust: a PR description is a claim, and over-claimed coverage, hallucinated references, and "tests pass" that never ran are the normal case on generated code. Judge the mechanism only - whether code, tests, and docs at the assessed head make each promised behavior possible - and leave what can be seen only after merge (a staging run, production data, an external system) to `/skill:check-delivery`. Nothing mutates before a menu pick except the `--rebase` sync: steps 1-5 read, provision a worktree, run the `--rebase` sync when asked, and draft; fixes, pushes, reviews, comments, merges, and tracker writes happen only on explicit selection or, for the sync's rebase and lease push, on `--rebase`. Running the verification command executes PR code with your ambient credentials and no sandbox - gate only PRs you are willing to execute.

## Arguments

- PR number or URL; omitted -> resolved from the current branch per `verification-brief.md` Section A.

- Optional issue reference; omitted -> resolved in step 1 (`verification-brief.md` Section A) and fetched in step 2; none found -> select the scope contract in step 2 (spec at the head, else the PR's stated intent), never invent acceptance criteria.

- Optional `--rebase [base]`, parsed after `<pr> [issue-ref]`: the token after it, when present, is the base branch name (`123 --rebase gh-45` means base `gh-45`, not an issue ref); absent, the base is the digest's `baseRefName`. Step 2b fetches `origin/<base>` and validates it: a missing ref stops with a one-line error before any rebase or push. Without `--rebase` the run performs no additional fetch, rebase, or push before a menu pick and renders no sync line.

## Steps

Verify (step 3) and Review (step 4) each run as a fresh helper with `cwd` the PR worktree - Verify first, Review after Verify's output file exists (`reference/assessment.md` `## Helpers`); the orchestrator runs every other step itself. Each step reads the sibling(s) its row names and produces exactly one output.

| Step | Read now | Output | Tracker stage |

|---|---|---|---|

| 1 Gather | `verification-brief.md` Section A | PR digest: metadata, diff, checks, comments, worktree discovery | `gather` |

| 2 Provision + configure | `reference/assessment.md` | provisioned worktree; config resolved from the merge-base; ticket fetched; the `scope` block selected (spec rows and `design`, or stated intent) | `provision` |

| 2b Sync (only with `--rebase`) | `reference/sync.md` | the PR worktree on the rebased, pushed head with a refreshed digest, or a `sync` record and the unsynced head, or a rebased, unpushed head (`rebased locally`, `complete`) | `sync` |

| 3 Verify | `verification-brief.md` Section B | evidence record (CI-first) and one disposition per material claim | `verify` |

| 4 Review | `verification-brief.md` Section C | reviewer findings and the internal comment ledger | `review` |

| 5 Integrate + report | `reference/post-selection-loop.md` `### Pre-menu refresh`, then `reference/findings.md`, then `reference/report.md` | AC outcomes, blockers, nits, drafted payloads, the rendered report | `report` |

| 6 Menu | `reference/decision-menu.md` | the menu under the verdict line, exactly one `[recommended]` | `menu` |

Re-entry: a fix wave's own push re-enters step 4 through the own-push sequence (`reference/fix-wave.md` `## Evidence after push`, then `reference/post-selection-loop.md` `### Re-render`); any other head move re-enters step 3; an unchanged head re-enters step 5 through `reference/post-selection-loop.md` `### Pre-menu refresh`. A loop re-entry never re-runs step 2b; the sync runs once per invocation.

## Progress tracking

Use `plan_tracker`, never `phase_tracker`. `init` with the first three stages of the table, four when `--rebase` is present (`gather, provision, sync, verify, ...`); `reference/sync.md` closes `sync` before step 3 starts - `complete` after a push, a `no-op`, or a rebased, unpushed head (`rebased locally`), `skipped` when step 3 runs unsynced, `failed` on a terminal stop. In step 3 `add` one task per material claim and record each verdict: `complete` matched, `failed` contradicted, `skipped` unverifiable-pre-merge. Once every claim is terminal and `verify` is closed, `add` the remaining three stages - the tracker rejects a verdict recorded behind a still-pending stage. A failed stage or claim stays `failed` while the skill stops at the menu. Without a `plan_tracker` tool, keep a plain checklist; behavior is unchanged.

## Harness notes

Every helper is a fresh context with `cwd` the PR worktree; its task names its output path and ends with the output contract. Every dispatch on either harness gets its own output path from `mktemp "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/gatekeep-<role>.XXXXXX"` outside the worktree. On pi: `subagent({ agent: <persona>, context: "fresh", async: false, cwd: <worktree> })` with `worker` for Verify, `code-reviewer` for Review and the pre-push review, `implementer` for payloads; `gauntlet_setting({ key: "closureReview" })` supplies the fix-round cap. On Claude Code: the harness's subagent dispatch tool with the duty text as the prompt - Verify: `verification-brief.md` Section B; Review, pre-push review, and comment-delta review: Section C plus `review-baseline.md` (the pre-push review adds the closure-line contract); implementer: the payload task of `reference/fix-wave.md` `## Wave`; sync conflict stop: the task `reference/sync.md` `## Conflict stop` builds; sync review: Section C plus `review-baseline.md` with the `## Review before push` subject, no closure lines; the cap is 3. A Claude Code helper inherits the session's directory, so its prompt opens with the absolute worktree path and the rule that every command runs as `git -C <worktree> ...` or `(cd <worktree> && ...)`, checks that `git -C <worktree> rev-parse HEAD` equals the head its task names (the assessed head for Verify, Review, and the comment-delta reviewer; the current wave HEAD for wave helpers) before working, and names the output path; the orchestrator awaits the tool result before reading the file. A harness with neither facility is unsupported: stop at step 3 and say so - at step 2b, before any sync write, when `--rebase` was passed (`reference/sync.md`).

## Wording rules

These bind every rendered report, menu, and external payload (review bodies, replies, commit subjects, tracker comments). A `## comms style` section in the overrides file extends them.

1. One item is one or two whole sentences: what is wrong, then why it matters. No fragments, no field separators.

2. Name the behavior, not the artifact: "retries forever" beats "attempts counter not incremented".

3. Locators trail in parentheses (`file:line`, check name, doc path), never inside the sentence.

4. No category tags, severity words, or IDs in prose - the section heading is the severity, the list number is the ID.

5. Report only non-conformance; passing checks, per-row AC outcomes, and matched claims print only under `show evidence`; `Delivers` names the covered and settled rows.

6. Omit empty sections.

7. `Delivers` is always present and names which spec rows this PR covers, which it defers or deviates per spec, and which observable half is checked after merge.

8. The verdict is one line in the fixed form.

9. Menu rows start with a verb a human types, carry one clause of consequence, and exactly one row is `[recommended]`; compose grammar lives in the hint line only.

10. ASCII only, American English, no hedges on checked facts, no intensifiers.

## Red flags - STOP

- Any mutation (fix, push, review, comment, merge, tracker write) without an explicit menu pick or the `--rebase` argument - owner: the intro.

- A code or doc edit sitting in the worktree when a menu renders - except helper residue that `reference/fix-wave.md` `## Wave` names in the re-rendered menu - owner: `reference/findings.md` `## Drafted payloads`.

- Blocking on an AC's observation half, or on a PR-body claim the gate cannot check - owner: `reference/findings.md` `## AC outcomes`.

- Judging a ticket row the spec does not carry, or treating a spec `deferred: <ref>` row as a gap - owner: `reference/findings.md` `## AC outcomes`.

- Reading the rubric, the verification command, or any ladder source from the PR's head instead of the base branch's merge-base - owner: `reference/assessment.md` `## Configuration`.

- Raw command output, drafted payloads, or internal IDs in the rendered report - owner: `reference/report.md`.

- A local verification run while a binding check is pending, or a second push inside one round - owner: `reference/fix-wave.md` `## Evidence after push`.

- The orchestrator resolving a merge conflict itself, or editing or committing a tracked file during a fix wave - owner: `reference/fix-wave.md` `## Conflicts` and `## Wave`.

- A helper's duty run in the orchestrator's own context - owner: `## Harness notes`.

- Approving your own PR - owner: `reference/decision-menu.md` `## Consent table`.

- Merging around an undispositioned failing check or a binding pending check, or a `BLOCKED`/`UNKNOWN`/`unreadable` merge state - owner: `reference/findings.md` `## Dispositions`.

- A menu rendered without the pre-menu refresh - owner: `reference/post-selection-loop.md` `### Pre-menu refresh`.

- Reading `mergeStateStatus` from anything but a `gh pr view` invocation, attributing a `BLOCKED` to a named rule, or treating a non-`BLOCKED` value as a merge verdict - owner: `verification-brief.md` Section A.

- A claim verdict recorded behind a pending tracker stage - owner: `## Progress tracking`.

## Project overrides

If a gauntlet overrides file exists - checked in order: `.pi/gauntlet-overrides.md`, `<repo root>/gauntlet-overrides.md`, `<repo root>/doc/gauntlet-overrides.md`; first found wins - read it. Read and apply `## conventions` whenever present, without a relevance judgment. Give this skill's named section precedence over conflicting `## conventions` rules. Use other relevant sections - by name match, by topic (routing, verification, worktrees, etc.), or by workflow convention - to override or extend the instructions above. Project-local `AGENTS.md` is already in context - check it for project-specific routing tables, service paths, and verification commands. `## PR gate` keys are read in step 2 (`reference/assessment.md`); `## comms style` extends the wording rules.